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Group Donation = 1 KP

(Donate Karmic Points to the group.)

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There wasn't much that, at this point, would have surprised Daniel.. But the moment he had checked the new abilities granted by the next level of his system's upgrades, his jaw dropped.

"You have got to be kidding me.." he muttered as a big smile formed on his face.

Ever since he had taken back control over his body, Daniel had been worried for his companions. They, unsure whether Daniel would have come back to his senses or not, had lost faith in him, and therefore, left the area of effect of his system's passive skills.

Due to this, the group had been unable to gain any particularly high amount of karma, and therefore, Daniel had been unable to upgrade it.

For a long time he had hoped that his friends would come back into the group once they learned that he was back and earn enough points that would have allowed him to help them from the distance, but unfortunately, their difficult situations had kept them away from being able to perform the kind of actions that would have granted karma points to the group.

That had only left his own karma as an assurance that they would be safe, leaving him terrified to spend any of it, in case the secondhand luck he emanated onto his friends would run out, and be unable to prevent their death.

Now that he was able to donate karmic points directly, it would not matter if his group went around doing good deeds. He could simply donate what was needed out of his own points. So, with a big smile, he thought "Donate five billion points to the group."

Without waiting for a single moment, he opened the group system's window, and after confirming that the group's karma had been increased by five billion points, and his had decreased by the same amount, he opened the group system's upgrade window.

Just like he remembered, the fourth level of the shared karmic effects, required five billions, and now that he had enough funds, he quickly formulated the thought of upgrading the group system's level, forcing a large window to appear in his mind.

He then began to read with high expectations.

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Shared Karmic effects lv.4

Karmic Aura Lv.150 = 2,500,000 KP

(Passive: When in the presence of the Karmic System's wielder or inside the group's ground, the group members will obtain a battle prowess enhancement of 1%. An additional 1% per level. Max Lv. 200)

Time Is Precious Lv.60 (Group) = 2,500,000 KP

(Passive: When in the presence of the Karmic System's wielder or inside the group's ground, the group members will obtain a boost in their speed of progression of 5%. An additional 5% per level. Max Lv. 80)

True Loyalty = 1,000,000,000 KP

(Passive: When a group member reaches the level of unbreakable loyalty, the effects Time is Precious and Karmic Aura will be activated regardless of the presence of the System Wielder.)

Group Base (Intermediate) = 50,000,000,000 KP

(The maximum size of the group's base doubles. Group members will find it easier to cultivate in the group base. The battle prowess of the group members increase by 20% when in proximity of the group base. System Wielder gains a 10% boost in battle prowess when in proximity of the group base. )

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Accumulate 50,000,000,000,000 Karma points to unlock Shared Karmic effects lv.5

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Daniel's jaw could not possibly move lower.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Asked Xargy while looking at his comically deformed face as if he was looking at an idiot. He had smelled the happiness off of his sweat from the other side of the planet, and had decided to check up on him.

Similarly, a small shadow that moved on the ground's surface dashed in Daniel's direction, and when it came to about two meters of distance from him, it turned into the silhouette of a demonic wolf cub which emanated thick dark essence.

The cub was feeling Daniel's second hand happiness, and only stopped his motion by pressing his front paws of his face, then jumping backwards.. Almost as if in an attempt to convince Daniel to play with him.

Daniel did not react to the two, and instead kept staring at the empty space while smiling like an idiot. The only word that he inadvertently said out loud, was the word "donate."

All of this happened only a few moments before four contemporary events, which would change the history of the entire universe forever, took place.

-----

In the main base of the universal government's military, was a large training ground.

Inside this training ground, around a hundred cultivators were quietly performing their ascension. Each of these people was dressed with different types of armor or elegant clothes, and their appearance left no doubt about their competence in their field.

The color of their clothes belonged to many different factions, and only a few of them were dressed in the uniform of the universal government's military corp.

These individuals had been extracted from numerous planets all around the territories of the universal government and many factions, and each of them had been an extremely successful general for many years. All of them had been taken away from the Observer, only moments before they could attempt their ascension on their own.

One of these individuals, was Der. He was sitting in the far end of the training ground, as he was the last one to arrive.

Standing around these ascending generals, were the current commanders of the universal government's army. If everything went well, amongst this group of cultivators, they would find a few peers which would ultimately end up becoming the generals of a new generation of the universal government's army.

For the last few hours, one warrior after the other had left the state of meditation, and entered the second stage of the ascension. The thousands of immortal crystals left in the surroundings were quickly decreasing in size, and their immense power was being absorbed by these ascending warrior as if no quantity could ever be enough. The energy they contained decreased as fast as the power of the warriors grew, and their gifts formed within their bodies.

One hour after the other went by, and soon enough, all of these warriors managed to complete their ascension. From their bodies, came the aura of a general which could lead billions to battle, and to whom those with a soldier's gift could not oppose.

Amongst all of these warriors, Der was the only one that had failed. He was still stuck in the meditation state, and couldn't bring himself to enter the state of mind that would allow him to ascend.

That, however, changed soon after.

Instead of seeing a slow and gradual increase of Der's power, the production of his immortal essence increased by leaps and bounds in a single moment. On his face, was an expression of shock, and he appeared to be looking around in hope to see someone he hadn't seen for a long time.

This sudden change was enough to catch the attention of the newly ascended warriors and old generals, who turned to look at him with disappointment. In their eyes, Der had failed to obtain the gift of the general, and had instead gained an increase in cultivation, along with an unknown gift.

"Only one has failed.. This was a great batch." Said a noblewoman in heavy armor, while showing a bright smile.

A man dressed in elegant clothes, and that was standing next to her nodded at her, said, "I agree. Usually, only three fourth of the candidates actually obtain the gift of the general. How extremely odd.." He then took a small pause, before turning to look at the Observer which had at some point joined them, and asked "What do you think, Observer?"

"I think that you better pay attention.." Said the Observer while looking straight towards Der, who was still sitting, and had now skipped through the meditation state, and directly entered the second stage of his ascension.

The crystals that had been placed around Der immediately began to decrease in size at three times the speed required by the other warriors. What nobody else was feeling, however, were the invisible waves of mind power that separated themselves from the minds of the newly ascended generals, the old commanders, and the observer, before moving in the direction of his body.

The looks of the people were, at first, looks of curiosity.. But before they could notice, their mind process had slowed down, and they had entered a trance. At the same time, the feeling emitted by Der's body was growing out of proportion, while his body remained the same.

Many attempts to say something had been stopped by their inability to utter a single word, until finally, the very moment the remains of the crystals disappeared, they found themselves on their knees, staring at a standing Der as if he was the only one who could only lead them to battle.

"DON'T MAKE HIM SPEAK!" Shouted the observer to the generals, which immediately woke up from their trance, and understood what was going on.

They desperately stood up, and tried to prevent Der from speaking, but before they could do anything, they heard a voice that commanded their movements like the fingers of a puppeteer controlled the threads that moved the puppet.

"STAY BACK!" Said Der with a domineering tone, causing all of those who had heard him to once again fall on their knees, unable to do anything. Even the observer, who hadn't been affected by Der's aura at first, could not help but obey his orders now.

"H-He has the gift of the.. W-Warlord.." Said one of the kneeling generals with extreme worry. From what they knew, only one other Warlord had appeared in history, and after obtaining this gift, he had been able to control the newly formed universal government for tens of thousands of years.

Der was unsure of what his gift was, so the first thought that came to his mind, was to escape.

"You!" He said while pointing at one of the older generals. "Open a-" His words were interrupted by a grim feeling, which him to turn his head towards a seemingly random direction.. as if he had felt that something dangerous was about to arrive.

This simple action caused the mind of the Observer to fall into panic. Only he could have possibly seen the arrival of those who he had requested support from. "HE HAS THE SIGHT! HE IS AN OBSERVER!!" He shouted in what appeared to be madness.

"Open a portal, NOW!" Said Der to the general, which immediately stood up, teleported in front of him, and opened a portal in space.

Just as he was about to leave, Der turned to look at this general, and said, "Cover my traces." he then went through the portal that closed right behind him.

As soon as the portal closed, the general took control over the space, and erased any trace of the spatial essence which could have left a trace that linked the recently closed portal, and its destination.

"NOOOOO!" shouted the observer.. But it was too late.

-----

At the same time..

In the massive main hall of the underground palace of the ancient elementals, the seven ancient elemental were standing in a straight line. They were looking at a young man with expressions of extreme happiness. The very essence of which their bodies were made of, was enhanced by the sheer sight of him.

The energy emitted by this man was like nothing that had ever existed before. He was standing above a small pyramid and facing the opposite side of the hall, showing his back to the seven ancient elementals. The power emitted by his body was like a second skin, whose colors changed between flashes of sudden white light, warm and animated flames, dull ground, shiny metal, hard looking wood, invisible and yet noisy gusts of wind, and gentle streams of water. Around his neck, was a necklace made out of seven pearls. Each of these pearls felt similar to perfect essence spheres, and yet, somewhat older.

In truth, these pearls were essence spheres formed out of the treasures that were born from the remains of the first perfect elementals to ever exist, and while they appeared to be an accessory to this man, they were actually a part of his body.

"I.. I didn't think this would be the result.." Said the ancient water elemental.

The earth elemental, who was standing right next to him, said, "I can feel my power grow in his presence.. It is like being witness of the primordial state of the elements.."

"It's truly beautiful." Said the young looking lightning elemental, which couldn't help but take a step forward, and stare at the man in awe.

"I hope our old age will be enough to help him grow into the champion that nature deserves.."